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Telehealth is well on its way to having much broader acceptance and use than at any time prior to the COVID-19 crisis. Yet there continue to be barriers an' challenges [...]

The most frequent question we hear is, 'How much do I need to save for retirement?' Plenty of online resources offer rule-of-thumb answers, such as withdraw only 4% of assets [...]

It's midseason--the critical summer growth window of July and August--and it's time for you to do the proactive management and scouting that can help save your crops, and pocketbook, from [...]

To survive today's turbulent global economy, companies are constantly asking their leaders and employees to find ways to enhance efficiency and streamline practices while increasing effectiveness. Even more than in [...]

RECENTLY, WHILE volunteering as a union organizer for freelance journalists, I spoke with a skeptical member. 'Really, what is my roi?' he asked. I tried to explain that the union [...]

Stop me if you've heard this one before. 'Show me the ROI of technology in education, and then I will support your budget,' says the chair of your school board. [...]

Learning professionals and managers have always been tasked with building the talent required to meet public demand for better and more services. Now they are asked to do it with [...]

Travel to the most easterly point of the English coast and you will find Gulliver, the UK's largest wind turbine, responsible for creating 2.75MW of electricity, enough to supply over [...]

ABSTRACT Insurers are formally and informally monitored by a variety of stakeholders, including reinsurers, agents, outside board members, and regulators. While other studies have generally examined these stakeholders separately, they [...]

Many contemporary management approaches call for an increase in transparency in the activities of management and staff. This is a dramatic shift from the days when the carrot-and-stick approach to [...]

When you select the right point of sale, you will do more than just manage costs in less than 12 months, you will also increase your bottom line. When talking [...]

Using a design involving a between-subjects experimental manipulation, this study surveyed 742 Finnish financial advisers about requiring a risk premium in one mode and about expected returns in the other mode. Company-level risk factors (e.g., leverage) caused an increased return requirement in the first mode but led to lower return expectations in the second mode. Sensitivity to the form of the question revealed an inconsistency in the advisers' perception of risk and return. Advisers seemed to associate safe stocks with relatively lower discount rates (and thus higher valuations) but also with higher return expectations. This inconsistency may contribute to the overpricing and subsequent inferior performance of glamour stocks. Giving consistent advice is a necessary condition for providing valuable client service.

The effect of marketing by Tourism Australia, the agency in charge of promoting Australia as a tourist destination, is evaluated in terms of the dollar return per dollar investment. Findings showed that for Asia, the return per dollar investment is 17:1, and 7:1, 3:1, 36:1, and 8:1 for the US, the UK, New Zealand, and Japan respectively. Implications for targeting markets to improve economic returns are also discussed.

The 11 businesses considered 'great' by Jim Collins in his book 'Good to Great' are examined in relation to five management principles, which Collins claims lead to 'sustained great results.' Findings show that the management principles contribute to average stock return performance, with the 11 businesses' average ranking being 202nd.

The Net Present Value (NPV) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) can not deal with the vast majority of investment problems effectively and a project may have several IRR when cash flows move from negative to positive two times or more. The Modified Internal Rate of Return is explained together with how it deals with the problems of the NPV and IRR.

The 2005 Marketing ROI and Measurement Benchmark Study revealed that only one in five marketers uses marketing return on investment (ROI), net present value, or another profitability measure for at least some of their marketing work. This lack of measurement makes marketers unable to command marketing budget. Views on measuring marketing performance are presented.

FOR THE PAST DECADE OR SO, the buzzword used to describe the divorce between the media-buying process and traditional, fullservice advertising agencies has been 'unbundling.' Tired of being the last [...]

In turbulent times, the financial policies and decisions about cash and debt make or break hospitals' financial condition. Decisions about whether to continue saving cash or reduce debt burdens are [...]

Replacement of control systems of plants and factories are being done to keep up with today's technology, but there are considerations to be made before deciding if it is time for a system upgrade or migration. Ten migration routes to consider before system migration, evaluation of options using a two-dimensional graph to illustrate different return on investments (ROI), and other details are presented.

A growing number of employers are promoting a culture of wellness within their workplaces--not only to enhance the overall health and well-being of their employees but also to combat rising health care costs. Intuitively, we know that health and wellness programs work. Providing employees with a resource that reduces the impact of their primary risk factors should result in reduced medical claims costs, lower absenteeism and presenteeism, higher productivity, and fewer workers' compensation and disability claims. However, given that these bottom-line benefits are often not realized for three to five years, how can it be proved that the cost of a wellness program was money well spent? The best way to quantify the return on investment (ROI) of a program's cost is to set and evaluate measurable metrics on a year-to-year basis.

The Sharpe ratio (1966, 1994) is an approach to evaluating portfolio performance that considers the reward received relative to the risk assumed. It is defined as the ratio of a [...]

As corporations respond to the demands of a global economy, they also strive to improve their return on investment (ROI) for a global workforce. Globalization in the 21st century is a well-established corporate reality. Employers who are successful have established new policies and strategies related to their expatriation program, and many rely on outsourcing specialists to better manage global risks and regulations. Trends have emerged since the late 20th century, such as short-term assignments that usually don't include family relocation and increased use of intraregional expatriates for some assignments. The employees who make globalization successful 'on the ground' are also making more demands of their employers, such as better career opportunities upon completion of an assignment.

WHEN ANTHONY ABBATTISTA, Allstate's vice president of enterprise technology strategy and planning, refers to "secret sauce," he's not talking about lunch. Rather, this is how Abbattista describes the advantages that […]

Purpose--Aims to test to determine whether the selection of the historical return time interval (monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual) used for calculating real estate investment trust (REIT) returns has a significant effect on optimal portfolio allocations. Design/methodology/approach--Using a mean-variance utility function, optimal allocations to portfolios of stocks, bonds, bills, and REITs across different levels of assumed investor risk aversion are calculated. The average historical returns, standard deviations, and correlations (assuming different time intervals) of the various asset classes are used as mean-variance inputs. Results are also compared using more recent data, since 1988, with, data from the full REIT history, which goes back to 1972. Findings--Using the more recent REIT datarather than the full dataset results in optimal allocations to REITs that are considerably higher. Likewise, using monthly and quarterly returns tends to understate the variability of REITs and leads to higher portfolio allocations. Research limitations/implications--The results of this study are based on the limited historical return data that are currently available for REITs. The results of future time periods may not prove to be consistent with the findings. Practical implications--Numerous research papers arbitrarily decide to employ monthly or quarterly returns in their analyses to increase the number of REIT observations they have available. These shorter interval returns are generally annualized. This paper addresses the consequences of those decisions. Originality/value--It has been shown that the decision to use return estimation intervals shorter than a year does have dramatic consequences on the results obtained and, therefore, must be carefully considered and justified. Keywords Assets management, Real estate, Returns Paper type Research paper

Purpose--This study seeks to examine the market returns of five domestic real estate investment trust (REIT) indices to determine whether they exhibit a turn-of-the-month (TOM) effect. Design/methodology/approach--A test is carried out for the TOM effect by employing a battery of parametric and non-parametric statistical tests that address the concerns of distributional assumption violations. An OLS regression model compares the TOM returns with the rest-of-themonth (ROM) returns and an ANOVA model examines the TOM period while controlling for monthly seasonalities. A non-parametric t-test examines whether the TOM returns are greater than the ROM returns and a Wilcoxon signed rank test examines the matched-pairs of TOM and ROM returns. Findings--A TOM effect in all five domestic REIT indices is found: real estate 50 REIT, all-REIT, equity REIT, hybrid REIT, and mortgage REIT. More specifically, the six-day TOM period, on average, accounts for over 100 per cent of the monthly return for the three non-mortgage REITs, while the ROM period generates a negative return. Additionally, the TOM returns are greater than the ROM returns in 75 per cent of the months. Research limitations/implications--The data are limited to five-years of daily returns and five different indices. Thus, the results could be biased on the selected time period. Practical implications--These results are important to REIT portfolio managers and investors. Domestic REIT markets experience a TOM effect from which investors and portfolio managers can benefit. Orginality/value--The daily returns of all five major domestic REIT indices are examined. Data are evaluated which include daily returns after the passage of the REIT Modernization Act of 1999 that resulted in numerous changes for REITs. Whether the TOM effect can be detected with both parametric and non-parametric tests is examined. Keywords Real estate, Investment funds, Calendar events Paper type Research paper

Purpose--The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of individual manager characteristics on real estate mutual fired (REMF) performance. Human capital theory predicts that factors like education, experience and professional certifications improve skill sets and thus performance. Conversely, capital markets theory suggests that these things may be irrelevant in the management of mutual funds. Design/methodology/approach A total of 63 REMFs were sampled over the period 2001-2003 and equations were estimate regressing, alternatively, risk-adjusted return, market risk and management fees on a series of fund variables and manager characteristics including the manager's tenure, whether the fund manager holds a professional certification, whether the manager has specific real estate experience, and whether the fund is team-managed. Findings--Modest evidence is found that team-managed funds have lower risk-adjusted returns than solo-managed funds. Managers with longer tenure tend to pursue higher market risk levels, and there is no relation between manager characteristics and management fees. Research limitations/implications--This study considers only one cross-sectional time period. Future research might use longitudinal data. Practical implications--Despite real estate being a specialized field of finance, there is little if any support for the predictions of human capital theory that experience, education and training result in greater performance among managers of REMFs. Originality/value--This paper extends prior work in mutual fund management characteristics and fund performance to real estate funds. Keywords Real estate, Managers, Human capital, Market economy Paper type Research paper

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY With purchasers' increasing frustration with healthcare costs, more innovative approaches to performance-based reimbursement are in demand. Establishing pay-for-performance programs has become a popular strategy for reorienting payments from [...]

It has long been suggested that investment may be time irreversible, and consideration of the option value of waiting to invest has aroused renewed interest in this issue. This study [...]